William Saliba has agreed a new long-term contract at Arsenal. The 24-year-old centre-back has been a mainstay of Mikel Arteta’s team since the 2022-23 season and his decision to extend is a huge boost, not least as he has been a target for Real Madrid.
Saliba’s existing terms run until June 2027 and getting him to re-sign has been a priority for the club’s sporting director, Andrea Berta, and the rest of the hierarchy. Arsenal are primed to confirm the deal, which has been months in the making.
Saliba was asked in July whether he would re-sign. “Yes, hopefully,” he said. “There is nothing now but there is a good conversation with my agent and the club. Let’s see.”
Saliba is considered to be Arteta’s defensive leader and one of the team’s most important figures. He played more Premier League minutes than any other Arsenal outfielder in each of the past two seasons; the club had the competition’s meanest defensive record in both.
Signed in the summer of 2019 from Saint-Étienne for £27m, he was loaned back to them for the season before spending the second-half of 2020-21 on loan at Nice. He played on loan at Marseille in 2021-22, when he was named in the Ligue 1 team of the season. He has been in the Professional Footballers’ Association’s Premier League team of the season for the past three years.
Saliba’s central defensive partner Gabriel Magalhães signed a contract extension in June while Arsenal also tied down Myles Lewis-Skelly and Ethan Nwaneri to new deals over the summer.
